Determination of nitrates in milk by ion-chromatography

A method is described for the determination of nitrates in cow milk, human milk, milk powder or milk-based infant formulae using liquid chromatography on Spheron DEAE and a direct photometric detection (205 nm). The influence of removing proteins by precipitation with Carrez reagent on the accuracy of determination was studied. The proposed method gives identical results with the reference method (photometry after reduction of nitrate to nitrite) but is more rapid. Its limit of determination is 0.5 mg NO3-/l of milk, its reproducibility is 4% (relative standard deviation).